The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a perforated cover for an electronic device.
Due to their characteristics of heat resistance, wear resistance, high luster, and other decorative qualities, metal materials are widely used to manufacture covers of electronic devices, such as covers of mobile phones, personal digital assistants, or portable computers. In recent years, many methods have been developed to improve the appearance and ease of manufacturing of device covers. For instance, coloring the surfaces of the covers or painting them has been tried. If a perforated structure can be formed in the covers, the appearance may be improved, and the structure will be advantageous for heat dissipation. Conventional methods for manufacturing a perforated cover mainly involve repeatedly drilling holes in the cover using a drill. However the drilling process is manual, so is too time-consuming and is not suitable for mass production. In addition, it is also difficult to precisely position the holes in the cover, and the holes can present a poor appearance due to burrs, stuffed holes, or wrongly positioned holes.
Therefore, an improved method of manufacturing a perforated metal cover that overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages is desired.
A main object of the present invention is to provide a simple method of mass-producing a perforated metal cover for an electronic device.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a perforated metal cover which result in a brilliant appearance.
To achieve the above objects, a method of manufacturing perforated covers comprise steps of: successively punching holes in a piece of metal sheet at a plurality of workstations and cutting the metal sheet into a plurality of bases; stamping the metal bases into three dimensions; grinding the metal bases and anodizing the metal bases, thus producing a finished metal cover from each metal base. Each workstation includes at least a punch, each punch includes at least one pair of punching dies, and each top punching die includes a plurality of punch heads, which number and arrangement are predetermined according to a pattern of the holes to be formed in the cover. Different arrays of holes are formed in the metal sheet in different punches.